Link: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Bulls interim coach Jim Boylan said he's keeping Friday night's starting lineup to himself, but he and his assistants have discussed starting Drew Gooden for Tyrus Thomas all week. Whether Boylan makes another change and starts Larry Hughes in the backcourt is unknown. Thabo Sefolosha skipped practice Thursday with a sore groin but is expected to play. Boylan benched Kirk Hinrich for all but 56 seconds of Wednesday's second half in Indiana. "We're just kind of taking it game by game," Boylan said of possible changes. "I like the way our bench has looked. When you look at the stat sheet, it's a matter of where your minutes are played that's the most important thing. I know guys want to be a starter on an NBA team. I understand that. But in the situation we're in right now, I can't be worried about that. I just have to worry about the team and try to get us into the playoffs."</div> I'm a little bit confused about why the Bulls would bench Thomas instead of Noah to start Gooden. Excepting the last one, I've thought Tyrus looked pretty comfortable out there and Noah's been a little shaky lately. And Gooden's looked fine playing next to either of them, so I think I'd be inclined to keep starting Tyrus. Am I just missing something obvious?
We've been getting killed by opponents' starters and our bench has been killing opponents' second units. Boylan is looking to balance it out more, it appears. We have the other obvious issue of too many players and not enough minutes, and something's got to give to find a proper rotation. Gooden, Hughes, Hinrich, Deng, Gordon, and Nocioni are all NBA starter quality guys who deserve 30+ minutes every game. Looks like a logjam at the 2 and 3 to me, and weakness at the 4/5 once you get beyond Gooden.
Personally, I've always liked Drew Gooden in the starting lineup with Joakim. Together they make for a pretty good tandem that doesn't have too many weaknesses, and their size is really nice to boot. Tyrus to me always looks a little overwhelmed guarding starting front court players, and on this team, I'm not sure being a starter or a bench player is all that relevant anyways. The three of them will probably get their fair share of minutes in the front court regardless, so it doesn't bother me too much. Figuring out the back court seems much more troublesome for me.
